Q1: From Stafford Beer’s “The Disregarded Tools of Modern Man”:

Beer mentions that “The trouble with our societary institutions, of course, is that the citizen has no alternative but to use them.” (pg. 22) Is this implying an inevitable downfall of these “societary institutions” to better ones, due to eventual inability to satisfy the needs of the citizen?

Q2: From Stafford Beer’s “The Disregarded Tools of Modern Man” and “The Free Man in a Cybernetic World”:

“It is a free gift for all who have the courage to accept it. Remember: our culture teaches you not intellectual courage, but intellectual conformity.” pg. 20

“The continuous process of liberating our minds from the programs implanted in our brains is a prerequisite of personal evolution.” pg.86

Is this notion of “liberation from our learned societal context” inherent to the time of publication (1973), or is it still relevant now?

Q3: From Stafford Beer’s “The Free Man in a Cybernetic World”:

“We have to find a way by which to turn science over to the people. If we can do that, the problem of elitism disappears.” pg.89

I do not agree with this, as it sounds rather idealistic to assume that there is such a way to erase elitism. Is elitism not inevitable? There will always be a group that holds a greater grasp and understanding of science and technology above the masses regardless of its level of proliferation.